next week i will try it again from the other side (thaton) maybe then it is better.
Because when we come there about 10 soldiers working to carry up a lorry which falling down, so it was not a good time......

If you read the newspapers too you should note that in the last couple of weeks there have been a couple of huge drug hauls in Bangkok, with the warning that there is a new flood of amphetamines coming across the border from Burma & supposedly the controls out there all along the border are more strict at the moment. :roll:

Been a lot of military "manouvres" lately in our area - MaeChan, MaeSai, ChaengSaen & so on. A convoy of military vehicles has been moving around this past week or so. Last Saturday seen at BanDai, Sunday at BanPaSakLuang, I saw them near Doi Luang on Tuesday & today (Friday) they were on the road from MaeSai heading for MaeChan. Something is definitely going on!

Two border passes opposite Chiangmai’s Chiangdao district have been ordered close since 5 February when a Wa fighter who strayed across the borderline while hunting was killed by a Thai border security force, according to Thai and Shan sources.

The closure of Nawngwen-Muengna pass and BP1-Nong Ook (Arunothai) pass was ordered by Yang Guojong, the 775th’s commander. “He called me up and just let off his steam to me,” said a Shan who lives in Thailand. “He spoke as though I were the Thai officer who was responsible for the death of his man.”

The said Wa fighter, who was unidentified, was from the 775th’s 303rd Battalion, stationed at Nawng Wen, Mongton township. The Thai Army had seized one AK 47 automatic rifle and detained one of his two companions. The other escaped back across the border. No drugs were found on their persons. Both the weapon and the man are still under Thai custody, according to a Thai source.

The two passes are the most used among the several mountain crossborder routes, due to their connections to the motor roads. “You pay 500 baht ($15) to the transport and 800 baht ($24) to the Burma Army, Wa army and militias for each trip,” said a source who lives on the border. “It is quite expensive of course, the distance being only 29 miles (46 km) from Nakawngmu to the border. But it’s more convenient and faster than the mountain trails.”

Despite the resulting tension between the Thai Army and the UWSA, one Thai security official does not think it will result in any exchange of hostilities. “The Wa should know they can’t have two enemies at the same time,” he said. “If they choose to fight us, it’ll be the Burmese who will win in the end.”

The UWSA had joined the Burma Army in its military confrontations with Thailand in 2001 and 2002, 7 years before it was pressured last year to exchange its independent status to junta-run militia status.

Comment: And I thought these passes were controlled by Burmese on the Myanmar side. Now you know.

Fifteen Burmese anti-narcotics agents were killed near Tachilek after drug traffickers ambushed them on the Mekong River on Saturday, according to a source at the local police department.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Monday, the source said that the 15 policemen were killed while on patrol boats on the river at 12:30 p.m. On Saturday.

“The drug traffickers ambushed them,” he said. “It was a particularly brutal attack. They fired on the three patrol boats with guns and mortars. All three boats were destroyed.”

The police source said that 12 bodies had been recovered, but that three were missing. He also confirmed that the head of the anti-narcotics squad, Lt Khin Maung Yee, was among the dead.

He added that the local police authorities had requested their Thai counterparts to assist in retrieving any bodies found on the Thai side of the border.

Tachilek is on the Thai-Burmese border in eastern Shan State.

Burmese police sources put the blame for the attack on Shan fugitive Naw Kham, an alleged drug lord who is wanted in Thailand, Burma, China and Laos for drug trafficking.

Naw Kham has been active in and around Tachilek since he became a fugitive in 2006 when a tip-off from Chinese and Thai intelligence services led to a raid at his home in Tachilek and the recovery of a large amount of amphetamines.

Naw Kham is one of the highest profile drug lords of the Golden Triangle and reportedly commands a private militia of about 30 to 40 soldiers.

Despite his notoriety in the region, Naw Kham was not on the most recent wanted list issued by the United States. The 48-year-old Shan was previously loyal to warlord and drug kingpin, Khun Sa.

Burma, Laos, China and Thailand, the four countries in the so-called Golden Triangle region, an area famous for its production of opium and heroin, have said they are all working toward the elimination of drug-trafficking in the region.

Early this month, the Thai anti-narcotics bureau seized 3.66 million methamphetamine pills in Bangkok, which they said were trafficked from Burma.

Most amphetamines and methamphetamines allegedly come from the areas in the Shan State controlled by the United Wa State Army, an armed ethnic group regarded as the biggest player in Burma’s illicit drugs business, according to many official and local sources.

Burmese authorities seized large caches of heroin and amphetamines in Tachilek at least eight times last year.

In July, an anti-narcotics squad reportedly uncovered about 1,000 kilograms of heroin and 340,000 methamphetamine tablets—the largest known haul in Burma last year—in a truck at the Loi Taw Kham checkpoint.

Burma's state-run media reported last week that the authorities had exposed 205 drugs-related cases in January, and seized 11 kilos of opium and six kilos of heroin and other substances.

According to state-run media, the Burmese military regime destroyed 7,893 acres of opium poppy fields in Shan and Kachin states during last year's growing season.

Burma remains the world's second largest producer of heroin after Afghanistan, according to US and UN experts.

COMMENT: It's definitely hotted up out there on the border right now. Expect more checkpoints to function as they are supposed to.

The last trip it was possible to drive the way from Thaton up to the armee road on the border.
But it is not easy and you must speak speak speak or lying.

The same on a road near Mae Salong. It is a armee trail only for motorbike, but the soldier let you only go with gps.
The first kilometers are a dirt road but the way on the border is only a small trail. After again a dirt road.
Look the track here:http://www.gpsies.com/mapOnly.do?fileId ... Leave=true

13 Chinese who were kidnapped by Golden Triangle godfather Naw Kham were released Friday, 8 April, 4 days after they were taken by his men, according to a source close to the King Romans casino in Laos.

“The ransom money, 25 million baht ($8.3 million), was paid by Zhao Wei (the casino owner) through Chiangrai godfather known as Pu Nuad,” he said. “Naw Kham however said it wasn’t ransom but protection fee due to him and that he hopes this last incident serves as a lesson to Zhao Wei.”

Pu Nuad’s real name is said to be Damras Somphongphan.

Naw Kham first hit the headlines with his shooting of a Chinese patrol boat in February 2008, which was followed by the gunning down of Chinese boats in 2009 and 2010. For this year, his men had been waylaying unsuspecting boats since February.

One of his victims was Ah Yong, said to be a nephew of a top Wa leader. He was relieved of around 58 million baht ($1.9 million) in March.

The source on the Sino-Burma border was quick to point out that the recent appearance of Wa fighters in Paliao-Kenglarb area on the Golden Triangle had nothing to do with Naw Kham. “The Wa don’t mix private affairs with public affairs,” he said.

Burma Army units from Mongphyak-based Military Operations Command (MOC) #18 had fought with the United Wa State Army (UWSA) troops in Tachilek and Mongyawng townships from 5-7 April. The Wa force later retired to their base in Loi Pang Nao, northwest of Mongyawng.

Wanted in Burma, Laos, Thailand and China, Naw Kham, 50, has surprised many observers with his staying quality. The business circle in Shan State East believes the reason is that Burma’s junta authorities are on his payroll.

The Shan State Army (SSA) South agrees. “When we were there,” said Lt-Col Gawnzeun, Commander of Kengtung Force, “the Burma Army and its militias never allowed us an easy time. We were chased out from every hideout we had setup. But Naw Kham never has to worry about it.” He denies the SSA South is also on Naw Kham’s payroll. Naw Kham has reportedly said for every 3 baht he made, 1 baht was for the Burma Army, another baht for the SSA and the last baht for himself.